Like most collectors, Dave enjoys rookie cards. But he seems pretty keen on getting RCs of players from his favorite team, the New Jersey Devils.

This has inspired me to acquire rookie cards for each and every member of one of my favorite teams of all time, the 2010 Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks. I have a lot of RCs of these guys anyway, but now I’m trying to get one of every player, including any “Black Aces” who had an NHL RC.

And here’s the catch: I am going to try and make sure that all cards are from different sets. That means that all RCs from each year must be different–no two cards from the same set in a given year. This will be tough, as a handful of players only had RCs with low print runs in sets like Be A Player or The Cup.

“Bamlinden” (a.k.a. Brett) started a collection some time ago called “1 vs. 100,” where he tries to get serial-numbered cards–e.g. 6/50 or 2/25 or 37/99–so long as he does not duplicate the last number. I like that idea, and decided to collect what I call “1 in a…”. Here, I try to get serial-numbered cards where the first number is 1 (1/1, 1/2, 1/3, and so forth). Doesn’t matter if it is an autograph, game-used or parallel card–so long as it is “1” out of whatever, and it is a player I like or have at least heard of.

Of course, finding a serial-numbered card that “starts” with 1 is not easy–and when you do find one, it is sometimes pricey. Plus, I’m not really sure there are any cards numbered 1/47 or 1/92.

DFG (a.k.a. Tim) started collecting cards of Eric Tangradi early last year. Tangradi was a prospect for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but was recently traded to the Winnipeg Jets. Tim’s decision to collect a prospect–who may or may not ultimately end up as an NHL regular–inspired me to track down cards of minor-league goaltender Carter Hutton.

Hutton appeared as a backup for the Flyers in 2009-10 for a few games, and again as a backup with the Sharks in 2010-11 for 22 games. He never actually played for either team, though. Last season, he started as the third-string goalie for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL, eventually becoming the ‘Hogs number one goalie and winning the AHL “Player of the Week” honors twice. He was called up by the Chicago Blackhawks, but again served as a backup. I am drawn to Hutton’s perseverance–he is 28 and still plugging away–and hope to see the day that he gets his well-deserved shot in the NHL. Even if it is with a team besides the Blackhawks.

Not too many cards have been made for Carter Hutton. There are /25, /5 and /1 versions of his 2010-11 Certified RC. The rest have either been non-serial numbered or minor league cards.

Sure, this might seem redundant of my first new PC, but owning a certified autographed RC of each 2010 Blackhawks player would be an ultimate goal for me. I will put the cards in a card frame to proudly display them when I accomplish this task.

Unfortunately, many of these guys only have certified autographs picturing them with other teams (Ben Eager, Brent Sopel, Andrew Ladd), so I might just try to get a certified auto of them as a ‘Hawks player.Then again, some of them don’t even have that, so then I might resort to using some TTM autographs for this project.

I haven’t nailed down my parameters (I’m open to suggestion) but my end goal is to have an autographed card of every 2010 ‘Hawk.

Paul likes the 1999-00 Upper Deck MVP Stanley Cup Edition set so much that he decided to collect all the parallel versions (Gold Script, Silver Script and Super Script) of the set.

Normally, I pass on parallels (other than those featuring Chris Chelios), but Paul seems to be enjoying his quest for variations.This got me thinking that it would be a fun challenge to try and track down parallel versions of one of my favorite sets, 1997-98 Donruss Studio, which features stunning portraits of the best NHLers that year. There are Press Proof Silver and Press Proof Gold parallels, non-serial numbered but limited to 1,000 and 250 copies respectively.

So far, I have about half of the Press Proof Silver parallels, but only 1 Press Proof Gold parallel. Most eBay sellers want upwards of $30 for a Gold parallel, so this will definitely be an exercise in patience.

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Thanks to my fellow bloggers who have inspired me to take on some exciting new collecting challenges. I will still build sets and collect Chelios cards, but you have given me some new and interesting pursuits for 2013.

That’s really cool that my parallel set project has got you started on one. Collecting parallels can seem repetitive, but it’s all worth it once you start getting to the point where you have completed multiple “rainbows” from the set.

I didn’t even know there were silver and gold parallels to that Donruss Studio set, but now I do and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for them.

Awesome stuff Sal, you certainly were key in inspiring me to start blogging! Good luck with your projects and this post has inspired me to do something I have been wanting to do for a long time….customize my banner 🙂